Emergency crews killed my son, says bomb victim’s mum
THE mother of a Manchester Arena bombing victim who could have been saved if paramedics treated him earlier has accused the emergency services of murdering her son.
John Atkinson, 28, suffered serious leg and abdominal injuries but they were ‘survivable’, the public inquiry into the 2017 atrocity was told last week.
It heard just one paramedic entered the blast site in the first 40 minutes after suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his backpack device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
But it was almost an hour before Mr Atkinson was evacuated and by then it was too late.
The care worker, from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, had lost too much blood and went into cardiac arrest before reaching hospital.
Scots schoolgirl Eilidh MacLeod, 14, from the Isle of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides, died along with 21 other victims. Fellow islander and friend Laura MacIntyre, 15, was badly injured in the attack.
Abedi, 22, had acted with help from his brother, Hashem, 23, who was jailed for at least 55 years last month.
Mr Atkinson’s mother, Daryl Price, 55, yesterday said it was very difficult to learn that her son was probably the only one of the 22 people who died who could have been saved.
The care assistant said: ‘Now, after everything has come out, I don’t believe the Abedi brothers actually murdered my son. They were contributory – but I feel the emergency services murdered my son.’
Mrs Price spoke out as she prepared to pay tribute to Mr
Atkinson at the inquiry in Manchester. A series of commemorative hearings dedicated to victims are due to start today.
Last week, Paul Greaney, QC, opened the inquiry by explaining that it would examine the emergency services’ response and the issue of ‘survivability’.
The inquiry heard in the aftermath of the bomb Mr Atkinson was able to speak and had a pulse for more than an hour.
However, ambulance delays meant he was not seen by paramedics until he was dragged out on a makeshift stretcher – constructed from advertising hoardings and a metal barrier – 54 minutes after the blast. Mrs Price said it appeared he received little treatment until he went into cardiac arrest 24 minutes later.
She said: ‘I believe that he would still be here now had he been seen sooner. It’s like he was just put to one side and left to die. They moved him to the triage area and then he was left. He was left to bleed to death.
‘He was totally forgotten about for 24 minutes and by the time they got back to him they had to do CPR [life-saving technique] because they left him to die.’
Victoria Higgins, of legal firm Slater & Gordon, who represents Mrs Price and other victims’ families, said: ‘There are questions the families need answering that didn’t feature as part of the criminal investigation – it is important they are now addressed.’
Meanwhile, plans for a memorial to Eilidh MacLeod were approved last year by her family.
The bronze sculpture, due to be built on Barra, will feature a young female bagpiper reaching out to a boy.
Her parents have also set up the Eilidh MacLeod Memorial Trust which, as well as maintaining the memorial, aims to improve musical education of young people.
‘He was put to one side and left to die’